International Migration in the UNECE Region: Patterns, Trends, Policies

In: International social science journal, Band 52, Heft 165, S. 313-328

Abstract

The 1990s has been a turbulent decade for inter‐national migration in the UNECE region. While recorded movements have declined in recent years in Western Europe, major questions surround the frequency of unrecorded and irregular migrations which many believe are steadily increasing in number, though the evidence is problematic. Central and Eastern Europe is characterised by short‐term, short‐distance, cross‐border movement, most of which is foreconomic purposes and takes advantage of the openness of the informal sector. In North America the main thrust of immigration has long been towards permanent settlement, whereas in Europe most migration has, initially at any rate, been temporary, albeit frequently leading to settled immigrant communities. In the 1990s immigration debates in Canada and the US seem to have increasing echoes of those across the Atlantic. Especially in the US the 'immigrationethos' is increasingly questioned. This paper elaborates on these issues by attempting to identify what is actually happening. How important is migration? What are the patterns and trends? How significant are new and unrecordedtypes of flows? What dilemmas are presented to the managers of the UNECEmigration systems?